Our Garden
by Lilliko
Summary: They met at the market, strangely enough. A clumsy, head-in-the-clouds gardener and a rich, extremely attractive twin. She didn't particularly think much of their brief encounter, but he did.
1. Introduction

**Hikaru.**

_Commoner's coffee, commoner's coffee..._

I wanted to go by myself this time.

_Commoner's coffee, commoner's coffee_...

Just once. I mean, I'm allowed, right?

_I haven't been here by myself, _I think, _Where the hell is anything?_

_I feel out of place... Ah!?_

I turn around, slightly irritated.

"I'm so sorry..."

Her things are all over the floor. She hurries to pick up the books. I help her.

It's just another annoying thing to deal with.

"Not a problem, really... Though, next time, I'd watch where you're going."

"Yes... I'm sorry."

She does a quick bow and leaves with the books piled up in her arms. I watch her leave.

_Strange._

_Why so many gardening books? Surely it's not that hard to make a flower grow._

Oh, I was terribly wrong.


	2. one

**_A reminder that this is based off of the anime, _****_not_****_ the manga._**

一

* * *

**Ameko.**

I think my fascination with flowers started when I was around eight years old. My grandmother was the one who taught me to appreciate nature.

_"__Ameko. Sit outside with me."_

I found it odd how she told me to sit with her. The real request was _take me outside_.

She was a very sickly woman, who stayed inside all day every day upon my mother's request. However, when my mother would leave for work or whatever reason, she would have me help her out of the house and into our small backyard.

At the time, I did not like going outside.

_"__But, Grandmother…"_

She would give me a weak smile that was very hard to say no to. She didn't like being weak. She didn't like it one bit.

_"__Well, maybe… Just real quick… But, if Mother finds out, I never did anything!"_

She would grasp onto my arm and slowly, very slowly sit down on the wooden chair that sat neglected on our porch. I got most of my patience from my father. My mother used to be relatively patient. Not anymore.

Our backyard was pitiful, to say the least. Barren. The grass was faded, practically straw, and the peach tree shoved in the right corner wasn't looking so hot. Mother's old tomato garden was long gone (same with her patience), and all that remained was the square dirt section set out for it.

My grandmother would sit in that chair and observe. And listen. And feel. And after I helped her back into her bed, after she'd drifted off the sleep, I wondered why she wanted to go out there and watch everything die.

_"__I want to see it while I still can," _is all she would say when I asked. Then she would tell me stories.

_"__When I was much younger, I used to have my own garden on the side of my house. Flowers, flowers mostly. What a treasure."_

_"__Ameko, have you ever watched a hummingbird? Quite an interesting creature."_

_"__Let me tell you about azaleas…"_

_"__My favorite flower is the camellia. Have you ever seen those? Just beautiful, really."_

I listened to everything. At first, I listened because it was polite. But then, I listened because I wanted to hear. I wanted to know about azaleas. I wanted to dance in cherry blossom petals. I wanted to listen to the wind, watch the clouds roll by, and study the veins in maple leaves. I wanted to see all of these things, like she had done.

My grandmother died from her illness. It was a day in summer where I put the chime up myself.

We moved from that house, into an apartment. It was me and my mother. No grass. No pitiful peach tree. No backyard. There was nothing, and whenever I asked my mom about it, she didn't care.

"It's not like you ever went into that backyard anyways," she'd snap. She didn't know anything at all.

In the months leading up to my grandmother's death, I had started going outside by myself for her. She'd ask me what it was like today.

"It looks the same," I'd tell her, "I saw a few birds. It was sort of warm, too."

She nodded and told me 'good'. That was her only reply.

On the day of her funeral, I told her what outside was like.

_"__It's st-still hot… A-and guess what, Grandmother?"_

_"__I saw a hummingbird…"_

* * *

"Ouch!"

"Ameko, pay attention! That's your third paper cut today."

"S-Sorry."

I look at my hands. I need to focus. I close the book and push it to the side.

"Ah, Haruhi, I've been meaning to ask… How's Ouran? Is it nice?"

"Well... I mean, I can't lie. It _is_ pretty nice."

"Your dad was telling me about the club you're in... What was it called again?"

"O-Oh, that…"

She does that nervous laugh of hers. The smell of incense is filling my nose and lungs. It almost burns.

"Would you mind if I visited? It sounds like fun."

"Fun?"

"Well, you know… I've never really been in a club before…"

I wanted to say, 'I've never really had friends before', but that seemed a bit much. I know she knows by the way she pauses to properly look at me.

"Yeah. You can come. Though, I'll have to warn you."

She picks up the book and slides it into its spot on the shelf.

"Warn me? What for?"

"Well, I mean, it's kind of…"

More nervous laughter.

"Kind of what?"

* * *

_"__Welcome~!"_

"Kind of annoying," she whispers to me as I walk in with her. I'm wearing normal clothes as I skipped out on school today.

They probably think I'm homeless.

The room is absolutely gorgeous. So this is what rich people are just _used to_?

Six extremely attractive boys are in front of me. One of them, with blonde hair and amazing blue eyes, walks up to us.

_"Haruhi!_ Is this a girlfriend of yours? _Is this a girlfriend of yours!?_ Daddy is _so_—"

"Please stop, Senpai."

I can't help but laugh a little. Friends must be so nice. Though, I'm assuming they're friends.

"Nice to meet you. Kamisaka Ameko. I'm a childhood friend of Haruhi's."

He firmly shakes my hand, _actual tears streaming down his face_. It makes me jump.

"It is my absolute _pleasure_ to meet a girlfriend of Haruhi. Suoh Tamaki, King, Haruhi's father. Address me as King, please."

I give Haruhi a look, and she just nods. She's painfully used to it.

"Come, come, meet everyone."

He coaxes me over to the rest of the group. Haruhi leaves to make tea, but I don't want her to leave. This is a _host club. _I mean, Ranka-san told me it was something like that, but it's not like I've ever been around hosts before. More importantly, these are _rich_ hosts. It doesn't even matter that we're relatively the same age. I'm starting to panic.

_Suoh-san_ introduces everyone.

"This is Otori Kyoya, vice president!"

He politely bows. Black hair, seemingly black eyes framed by glasses, clipboard in one hand, pen in the other. Overall intimidating. Overall frightening.

"The upperclassmen, Haninozuka Mitsukuni and Morinozuka Takashi. Or, Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai. "

_He's a third year!?_ I think, staring at the extremely _short_ blonde boy clutching a stuffed rabbit. The other is extremely _tall_, and I find it an odd 's solemn looking. Blank expression. Nice enough. I smile as soon as Honey-senpai does. It's pretty cute, honestly. Though, I also don't want to leave bad impressions on them.

"And these are the Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru."

_Huh?_

_I feel like I've seen one of them before. But which one?_

_Mm, whatever. It's probably my imagination._

"Hello, Haruhi's friend!" they say in perfect unison. They shake my hands until I'm dizzy.

"I'm Hikaru!"

"I'm Kaoru!"

I nod, my eyes moving to and from each face.

_There-is-literally-no-difference-at-all-whatsoever-in-their-faces._

"Ameko."

_Mental note: Hikaru has a deeper voice, and his part is to the left. It would be extremely offensive if I got them mixed up, but I don't know if I'll be good enough to remember._

* * *

**Hikaru.**

_That's her._

_That's definitely her._

I watch her carefully sip her tea as the Boss rambles on. I like how she's clearly not listening.

"She sure does seem interested in the Boss's stories, huh?" Kaoru says, staring at both of them.

"That must be sarcasm..." I mumble, my face becoming surprisingly hot. I get up from my chair. Kaoru quickly follows behind.

"Why are you being weird?" he whispers while grabbing my arm and looking around. I sigh. It was a few weeks ago when it happened.

Basically, it started out like this:

_"We're out of instant coffee!" Tamaki moaned. Everyone naturally looked at Haruhi._

_"I'm busy today. I have to study for that test in history. I don't have time to go get coffee; do it yourself!" she snapped, breaking her pencil._

She's been in a bad mood for the past week. It's actually kind of scary.

_"We'll go get it!" Kaoru piped in._

It's odd, but I've been exhausted lately. I don't have my normal devilish glow even now.

__Alone time, I thought, that's what I need. Sorry, Kaoru.__

_"You know, I can just go get it. By myself, y'know."_

_Everyone, Kaoru especially, gave me a look like I said the most ridiculous and stupidest thing ever._

_"I mean... if that's fine...?"_

_"Yeah... Sure," Tamaki said, hesitantly. He's clearly surprised. Kaoru looked at me like he was a little hurt, but then told me to try and not space out or anything._

I wasn't going to. _She_ was, actually. And if anything, it was actually energizing that I could be on my own for once.

And then, that's when it happened.

When I met _her._

I didn't care in the beginning. It was just another person not paying attention. It was just another person bumping into another person, dropping their things. It was just another small, meaningless moment like that, that one would forget in ten minutes after it happened.

But then, I strangely began to wonder.

_Why does someone need that many gardening books?_

Then, I started to wonder _more. _And more. And _more. _But it was different.

_Why does she like gardening? Does she even like it? Were those even for her? Do gardeners normally have long hair like that? Does she tie it up? Does it get hot?_

It wasn't even about the books anymore.

I started wondering about this girl _too_ much. It started to piss me off, quite frankly, but I never told anyone, not even Kaoru.

But now she's here in front of me, and worst of all, she's _Haruhi's childhood friend_. How am I supposed to deal with all of this?

* * *

**Lilliko here. Thank you for reading the first chapter of my first fanfiction on this site. It means a lot!**


	3. two

二

* * *

**Ameko.**

Everyone is gathered around me in a circle. I feel uncomfortable without Haruhi around.

As Suoh-san is rambling about natural beauty or of the sort, one of the twins comes up to me and interrupts him.

"Shouldn't you be in school or something?" he asks, looking at me expectantly. Suoh-san harshly nudges his shoulder and he gasps.

"Kaoru! You can't just ask a commoner such things!" he howls, pure pity in his eyes. Kaoru firmly nods and turns to quickly apologize. I blink a few times.

"I skipped today to come meet you," I quietly say, carefully sipping my tea. Out of the corner of my eye I see Haruhi approaching. I exhale.

"Don't make her uncomfortable, you two."

She looks over at the other twin, Hikaru, who is off to the side.

"Three?"

He looks over. It seems like he's trying to avoid my eyes.

Does he normally have such a personality change? He was all smiles when he was introducing himself. Maybe I did something?

"I wasn't doing anything," Hikaru mutters, fixing his hair. I glance at Kaoru, who looks like he's about to explode with worry.

I think twins are the most interesting thing. I did have an older sibling, but he passed away before I could remember him.

A strange silence has come over everyone. The only sounds I could hear was Otori-san typing away on his laptop.

"U-Um, so what exactly do you guys do here? It's a host club, right?" I nervously ask, my fingers finding the ends of my long hair, "Do you really act like a _host_ with the girls at this school?"

"Of course," Otori-san says, like it's completely obvious. I sit back in my chair, just a little embarrassed for some reason. I glance at Suoh-san, who is in a rather triumphant-looking pose. I find him sort of admirable. I could never be so resilient. _  
_

"Of course!" he beams, repeating Otori-san.

"We could demonstrate right now," Kaoru says into my ear, stroking my hair, "If you want."

I feel my face getting hot. I can practically feel his breath.

He's leaning in, and I'm about to jump out of my chair when, in an instant, someone grabs his hand and pulls him away.

* * *

**Hikaru.**

My grip on Kaoru is too tight to just laugh off as a joke. It's too late.

_She's looking at me like I'm insane. _Everyone_ is!_

"Hikaru?"

I let go of him and quickly excuse myself to the restroom. What the hell was I thinking? It made me so angry when Kaoru just... _touched_ her like that. But isn't that what we normally do? Why am I mad when it's her?

I look at myself in the mirror. My face is really red. She keeps flashing in my mind, and it's bad. In fact, it _hurts_. I don't know what to do. She doesn't even remember me. What am I supposed to say?

_Oh, yeah, we bumped into each once at the market for a brief second and it was probably love at first sight and I might've kept going back to find you._

_I sound like a stalker!_

_Wait, isn't that what a stalker?_

_Have I been stalking her!?_

"GAH!" I groan, smacking my forehead. I'm seriously creepy!

Someone enters the restroom.

"Hikaru."

It's Kaoru, but I don't really want to face him right now.

"Sorry," I mumble. I'm too embarrassed to function properly. I can see his reflection in the mirror. I try not to look at it.

"What was that about?" he asks, wrapping his arms around me. I suddenly feel like I want to cry.

"I don't know."

"What?"

"I said I don't know."

He almost immediately lets go of me. I turn around.

"You always do this, you know."

"Do what?"

He crosses his arms.

"You know what it's about. You just shut yourself out and won't tell anyone. What I'm so confused about is that you won't even tell _me_."

"I honestly don't know what it's about!" I almost shout it. Everything I do is unnecessary. _  
_

"Do you know her? Have you met her before? Ever talked with her?" he asks, moving closer.

"No! No... No, not really..."

_It's only the first day of seeing her again and everything is already crumbling._

"You sound like you're not sure."

I don't say anything. Someone else enters.

"Uh, Haruhi_? _This is the _boys'_ restroom."

"And aren't I identifying as one? Is there a _problem_?"

She's not cute at all.

"Quit freaking Ameko out, guys. She's always been anti-social, and you're making her even more uncomfortable than she already is," she scolds us. She specifically looks at Kaoru, who sheepishly smiles.

"Sorry."

"Maybe _both_ of you should apologize."

She looks at us, and then leaves. We glance at each other. Kaoru holds out his hand.

"Let's go."

* * *

We open the doors to the old music room and everyone's staring at us. More importantly, _she's_ staring at us. At me.

She stands up from her chair as we approach. She's about to say something, but Kaoru cuts her off.

"Sorry about that," he says, "It was out of line."

"It— I mean, i-it's completely alright," she stutters, her hands in front of her. They're so delicate. Everything about her is fragile.

She looks at me, expecting something. Just _something_. I don't know what to say. I stare into her eyes for a few seconds before snapping out of it.

"Um, I... Er, I'm sorry too."

She pauses.

"For what?"

She seems confused, and I start to panic.

"Um, well, for kind of... I mean... I sort of..."

"_Interrupted?_" she asks, in a terrifying tone. My heart breaks into a million pieces.

"Mm... Yeah..."

She giggles. She _giggles. _

"You're silly," she smiles, nudging my shoulder, "For thinking you had to apologize for _that_."

Then, she leans in and whispers to me, "If anything, I should be thanking you. Don't tell Kaoru."

And she moves away and winks at me.

I know that my face is a deep shade of red. Kaoru is looking at me like I'm crazy.

* * *

**Ameko.**

I quickly turn away from Hikaru. I can't let him see my face.

The room smells like cinnamon, and it's cold. I glance at the clock, and it feels like I've been punched in the stomach.

"Er, I have to go," I grumble, fumbling with my bag. Haruhi nods.

"It's _that_ time, right?" she says, picking up my empty cup and saucer. I heavily sigh.

"Yeah. _That_ time."

"What's 'that time'?" Kaoru asks. I wave at him, telling him it's not important.

After a few smiles and hurried goodbyes, I leave. Once the door closes, I run as fast as I can past everyone, down the huge staircase, and out the front entrance of the school. The cherry blossoms are catching in my hair. I can't keep him waiting. Not again.

When I'm at _the _place, a little ways away from Ouran, I take my bag off and sit in one of the faded purple chairs. They said they'd tell me when I could come in.

There is a vase of lilies sitting on the counter and a bowl of candies next to it. An elderly man is reading the newspaper in front of me, and a few kids are on the floor messing with toy trucks. I watch the lady at the desk, who motions for me to come over.

"He's ready to see you," she says, peering at me from her thick-framed glasses. I nod and stutter a 'thank you'.

I almost sprint there.

I quietly open the door to his room, and he's lying there like usual. He turns and looks at me, and smiles.

"Sorry," I mumble, staring down at my shoes, "I was in the complete opposite direction of this place."

"I didn't wait that long," he says, so faintly that it's almost a whisper.

"I met some of Haruhi's friends," I tell him, sitting down on the chair next to his bed, "From the club she's in."

"What were they like?"

"They were... Well, they were certainly _friendly_."

He quietly chuckles. A piece of hair falls over his eyes. I watch the veins on his hands.

"Tell me what it's like outside today."

And so I did.

* * *

**Liliko here. Thank you for reading! Sorry it took a while to update. School sucks!**


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